(Flipside 02) The Savageside [A] by Jake Bible

Author:Jake Bible [Bible, Jake]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Ten

“A week and you have nothing?” Bloom asked. He stood facing Thompson, Tressa, and Mike as they sat at a table in a hut they commandeered for their AI project. “Absolutely nothing?”

“I wouldn’t say nothing, Bloom,” Thompson replied. “We have the beginnings of a framework.”

“The beginnings of a framework…” Bloom echoed. “Which means?”

“We have nothing,” Tressa said to her father’s ire. He glared then turned to look in the opposite direction. “Not that we haven’t been working hard.”

“Night and day, dude,” Mike said and yawned. “But it’s not like we’re in Silicon Valley with all the processing power we can dream of. Our tech is limited and questionable. It’s going to take a while before we can get this done.”

“How much of a while?” Bloom asked.

“Don’t worry about that,” Thompson said. “We’ll get it done.”

Bloom ignored the man and focused on Tressa.

“How much of a while?” he repeated.

“Months,” Tressa admitted.

“Possibly over a year?” Mike added.

“We do not have months,” Bloom said. “We do not have possibly over a year.”

“We do not have resources,” Thompson snapped. “When I first created Brain—”

Tressa snorted.

“—I had all of Topside Industries at my disposal,” Thompson finished.

“And a daughter to steal from,” Tressa said.

“Thompsons, come on,” Mike said and gave Bloom a pleading look. “This hasn’t been helping.”

“Perhaps we should run two separate projects,” Bloom said. “Split you two up and have Mike be the connecting factor. Would that help?”

“Yes,” Mike said.

“No,” Tressa and Thompson said.

“He doesn’t fully understand the programming,” Tressa said.

“And she doesn’t fully understand the engineering,” Thompson said.

“I understand the engineering fine,” Tressa said.

“And I understand the programming,” Thompson said.

“Then you both should be further along than you are,” Bloom said. “Especially since you two have done this before!”

Bloom got control of his anger and rolled his head on his neck, cracking the vertebrae loud enough to make Mike jump.

“That can’t be good for you,” Mike said.

“What is not good for me, Mr. DiCenzo,” Bloom said, “is a total lack of progress. While Ms. Herndon has taken to her new role quite well, I would prefer to have you, Ms. Thompson, by my side instead if this project does not look like it will bear fruit.”

“It’ll bear fruit, commander,” Tressa said. “But bearing fruit takes time. And we need time.”

“Sir!” an operator shouted as he burst into the hut. “Sir! We have incoming!”

“Then deal with it,” Bloom said. “The operators on duty are more than capable of handling any pack of teeth or flock of wingers heading our way.”

“No, sir, it’s not dinos,” the operator said. “Russians.”

Everyone scrambled from the hut. Bloom’s finger was to his ear and he was shouting into the comms.

“I want a sitrep now!” he yelled.

“Looks like four squads, sir. Headed toward the main gate,” a voice replied. “Six rollers per squad. About fifteen clicks out. Single file formation and moving at us fast.”

“Twenty-four rollers,” Bloom said. “With a dozen operators per roller, to be sure. What else?”

“That’s it, sir,” the voice said.

“That’s it? Twenty-four rollers? No crawlers? No combots?” Bloom asked as he continued running toward the main gate.

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